Italian Anise Easter Bread

Making this bread every Easter has been a tradition for my family. It is worth the work at least once a year. Great sliced and toasted with butter for breakfast or just plain. I have recently found that using bread flour helps the bread rise better and I have been able to half this recipe without a problem. You can use butter in place of the Crisco if you wish. Please note it should be 3 .25 oz envelopes yeast, it looks in the way the ingredients came up that its just one envelope but it should be three.